Negros Oriental Regional Trial Court Branch 34 Judge Rosendo Bandal, Jr. believes is was not a good idea to leave the anti-drugs campaign to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Administration (PDEA) because the job requires a lot of resources, personnel and intelligence operatives.
With nine personnel in the province, four of whom are office staff, Bandal said on Thursday it will embolden those subject personalities to ply their trade elsewhere, unless they are caught en flagrante delicto by police personnel.
He said the drug problem has become a menace to society, good if it will destroy only the lives of those concerned, Bandal pointed out.
As a mother of all crimes, drug addiction will lead to other crimes including rape, robbery, hold up and even riding in tandem activities.
Meanwhile, Investigation Agent 1 Jason Cabataña of PDEA Dumaguete admits a huge vacuum is happening in Negros Oriental in the anti-illegal drugs operations.
Aside from lack of personnel, they are also ill-equipped, they don’t have a photo copying machine, which is badly needed in the preparation of complaints as well as lack of vehicles.
Several RTCs in the province have noticed that they have not received additional drugs cases since PDEA took over the helm of the anti-drug campaign.
Ever since PDEA was the lead agency in the campaign, but the anti-drug enforcement units of every police station, including the Provincial Public Safety Company, the Provincial Intelligence Branch, the Special Operations Group, the Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, even the highway patrol group, the Maritime Police, were responsible for their commendable performance. (Juancho Gallarde/PNA)
